Our take: Train police to handle people with mental illness

On Dec. 29, Springettsbury Township Police responded to the Kmart store on Haines Road when Todd William Shultz, 40, tried to commit retail theft with a knife. (File)

On Dec. 29, Springettsbury Township Police responded to the Kmart store on Haines Road when Todd William Shultz, 40, tried to commit retail theft with a knife, police said at the time. When four officers arrived on scene, Shultz failed to be brought down with a stun gun and came at officers with his weapon, Chief Tom Hyers said.

Two officers fired shots, and Shultz was pronounced dead a short time later at York Hospital.

On Jan. 1, West York Police officers responded to the Giant Food Store on West Market Street after Johanny Rodriguez, 27, and her husband, Jorge Ramos, tried to exchange a counterfeit bill they say the store gave them the day before.

The couple told officers they didn't have enough money to buy food for their children, and one of the officers offered to buy the couple groceries. But Rodriguez, who has a mental illness, according to her husband, started screaming and pounding on countertops.

Rodriguez was not taking her medication at the time, Ramos said, because the family couldn't afford it. The officers used a stun gun on Rodriguez so they could put handcuffs on her and remove her from the store, police said. She bit each of the officers in the hand before she was taken into custody, police said.

Two recent incidents where police said they had no choice but to resort to force to subdue suspects who suffered from mental illness. One case turned tragically fatal.

Could such uses of force have been avoided?

Police supervisors and the district attorney's office have said no.

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Both incidents were reviewed, and the officers' actions were deemed to be appropriate to protect themselves, the public and property from harm by the suspects.

We'll have to take their word for that - though it might be enlightening to allow citizens to view a surveillance video of the Kmart incident, where a man wound up being shot to death over a shoplifting incident.

But generally speaking, police officers have difficult, dangerous jobs. They must make split-second, life-and-death decisions that could affect themselves, suspects and bystanders. It's easier to sit back and critique after the fact than it is to deal with such stressful, threatening situations.

All of which points to the importance of training.

State and local police officers receive extensive training on all manner of topics.

But many have not received training in dealing with mentally ill suspects that has proven effective elsewhere - the Crisis Intervention Team training based on "The Memphis Model." That training became available in York County in 2010 through the York County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Officers can volunteer for the training. But it comes with a 40-hour commitment of time, essentially tying up an officer for a week. That can be difficult in small departments - or even in larger departments with tight staffing levels.

To its credit, the Springettsbury Township Police Department has the second-highest number of officers who have undergone the training in the county.

It should be incorporated into the state police academy training. It should be part of municipal police officers' training programs. It should be a priority for departments to get that training for officers already on the job.

Police officers routinely deal with people suffering from mental illness. They need to know the best practices and strategies for peacefully, safely resolving difficult encounters.

State lawmakers from York County should work to make such training mandatory - or at least find some way to increase the number of officers with the training.

P.S.: If one barrier to getting officers the CIT training is the burden it places on small departments, that would seem to be a pretty strong argument in favor regionalizing municipal police forces statewide. Larger regional departments would find it much easier to cover for officers who spend a week undergoing the training.